What happens when a golfer is using a shaft that is either too stiff or too flexible?

Identifying whether a shaft is ill fit to a golfer is a combination of both performance and FEEL issues.

When the shaft is too stiff for the golfer, most typically you see any or all of the following:

1. Loss of distance because the golfer cannot get the ball up as high to achieve the proper launch angle.
2. Possible tendency to leave the ball to the right
3. The feeling of impact between the ball and clubface feels harsh
4. The golfer may sense the shaft does not bend as much as he likes or would be used to, which in turn can trigger the golfer to swing harder to force the shaft to feel right, and from that comes more swing inconsistencies.

When the shaft is too flexible for the golfer, these are the things you would typically see:
1. Ball flight can be too high so the shot loses roll on the fairway and even shorter carry distance.
2. If the golfer already has a tendency to draw/hook the ball, the ball flight can hook/draw more from the same swing move.
3. The golfer may sense the shaft is bending too much which in turn can cause the golfer to think he is losing control, and/or cause the golfer to have to slow down/alter the swing to make the shaft's bending feel end up being less flexible feeling.

Shafts are a very fascinating part of the club because the only golfers who see the PERFORMANCE symptoms of a shaft being too stiff or too flexible are those golfers with a later to late wrist cock release and a slightly to more aggressive downswing tempo. But pretty much all golfers will note one of the two FEEL aspects of a shaft that is too stiff or too flexible. The most noted FEEL symptom experienced by golfers with a shaft too stiff is they sense the ball comes off the face with a more "dead feel" as if the shot wasn't hit that solid.

Can I get custom fitted for clubs at a large golf retail outlet like Nevada Bob's or Golftown? Their ads look impressive.

If you have enough money and if you hire experts in video commercial production, you can sell ice cubes to Alaskans. By no means is this fitting and not even close. Not only do the sales staff know very little about fitting, even if they did, there still would be no way they could get the OEM clubs built with all of the fitting specs altered for the needs of each golfer. But because of the money to market like this, golfers will be fooled.

Now in all this, the good news is that any marketing that talks about custom fitting to golfers will at least start to make golfers aware that 'maybe custom fitting IS important.'

Up to the past year or two in golf club marketing, nothing was ever said to consumers about custom fitting. Now that the OEMs know they are out of new technology developments that can make an immediate difference for golfers, they are turning to fitting as their "technology behind which to market."

But because no OEM can even come close to making their required sales forecasts by doing anything but selling pre made clubs off the rack, there is no way any major OEM is ever going to be able to offer full specifications fitting for ALL the important fitting specs to each different golfer.

My point is that even if I worked at a large chain golf store, the business model of the OEM side of the golf industry would prevent me from ever being able to get a golfer into a FULL SPECIFIECATIONS FITTING. The OEM's simply do not build their clubs to an assortment of fitting options for all of the 13 important fitting specs in golf clubs because they can't and won't offer that many fitting options in their clubs. They can't because to have that many headweight, head loft, head face angle, shaft weight, shaft flex, grip size, etc, options would be a very bad business practice for them to persue to be able to make their mid to high 9 figure annual sales forecasts.

Click link to view golf video's by Tom Wishon:

http://www.wishongolf.com/video_wishongolf.php

Is there standard lengths for clubs...Thanks, Bill J.

Bill, I typically shy away from offering a finished assembled length for clubs because I am all about every one of my builds being custom fit to each golfer for all the key fitting specs, one of which is length.

Because I do have to choose a starting headweight for each of my builds, even with the weight bore(s) on the heads, there certainly are limits to what any club can be built to for a length and still be able to come out to a reasonable range of swingweight or MOI. But with the headweights choosen and with the heads that have one or two weight bores to add weight to the heads, the range for length fitting for all head models is about as wide as is possible within the whole golf industry - and again, I try to do this because I recognize that with all the different golfers out there, the custom length range has to be as wide as I can make it. All this being said, if I had to publish a "standard" length chart (UGHH!!!) it would be as follows:

MEN (subtract 1" for Women)
Driver - 44",
3wood - 43"
4 wood - 42.5"
5 wood - 42"
7 wood - 41"
9 wood - 40"
11 wood - 39.5"
2-iron - 39.5"
3 iron - 39"
4 iron - 38.5"
5 iron - 38"
6 iron - 37.5"
7 iron - 37"
8 iron - 36.5"
9 iron - 36"
PW - 35 3/4"
AW - 35 3/4"
SW - 35.5"

Bill, sorry about this, but you have no idea how much I HATE having to put down anything like a "standard" length chart for my builds because I am all about CUSTOM FITTING - and as such, I hate thinking of golf clubs on a standard spec basis!!!!!

One golfer, one clubmaker, one set of all custom specifications, never standard is sort of my "mantra". Hope you understand!
Bob